Thanks to yahoo, that bought over Konfabulator, in what i would call a strategic aquisition, to boost their popularity. But does yahoo really need to make it free? I would say yes, people love free stuff. And once you are attached to it too, they would love you automatically. What happens to stylexp etc. That means my desktop is gonna look, better. I would post the new look, after i am through with it.

Source : ZDNET

Yahoo has acquired software “widget” engine Konfabulator in a move to spur third-party developers to devise new applications for the Internet giant’s services.

Konfabulator is a JavaScript runtime engine that lets people run very small applications, or widgets, on either Windows or Macintosh systems. Konfabulator is owned by parent company Pixoria, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based start-up founded in 2003.

Yahoo plans to run the widgets via XML feeds. The applications can perform any of a range of functions, from informing people of their Wi-Fi signal strength to dishing up the local weather to providing a battery monitor, according to a notice posted on Konfabulator’s Web site.

“When we first thought of Konfabulator, one of the key pieces was accessing Internet content. Well guess what Yahoo has boatloads of?” Konfabulator said on its site. “And what’s really great is that they’re starting to open it up to everyone in a format that’s useable outside the traditional browser, as XML feeds.”

According to Konfabulator, the acquisition also marks the formal launch of Yahoo’s Developer Network.

“Since we’re kick-starting Yahoo’s Developer Network, this means our current Konfabulator community will become the founding members of Yahoo’s Developer community,” according to a posting on Konfabulator’s site.

A Yahoo representative said that the company had a developer network prior to its Pixoria acquisition, but that with this deal, Yahoo plans to formalize its relationship with developers.

Konfabulator, which had charged rates from $19.95 for a single user license to $2,500 for a worldwide site license, said that its service will now be free and that it will refund purchases of its version 2.0 or later.

Stay free and blessed yahoo. And I love widgets. Yes I do.

From now on, customers looking to get the latest add-ons to Windows will have to verify that their copy of the operating system is legit.

Beginning Tuesday, the piracy check will be mandatory for all customers worldwide who want to download add-ons for Windows XP.

The only exception is for security-related patches. Regardless of whether a system passes the test, security updates will be available to all Windows users via either manual download or automatic update. The Microsoft Update and Windows Update utilities, which provide notifications of new patches, will require validation.

It’s all part of Windows Genuine Advantage, a stepped-up effort by Microsoft to increase the number of Windows users that are actually paying Microsoft for its software. Currently, the company estimates that roughly a third of Windows copies worldwide are not legitimate.

“We really want to cut that rate,” said David Lazar, director of the Windows Genuine program.

With Windows’ share of the desktop market estimated to be well above 90 percent, cracking down on illegal copies of the OS is seen as one of the few ways for Microsoft to grow its Windows business. The two other main ways that Microsoft has identified are increasing the number of PCs per household and expanding computer usage in emerging markets.

Lazar declined to say how much Microsoft hopes to cut into the piracy rate with the Windows Genuine push. However, he said the company does see a need to create a clearer distinction between genuinely purchased and bogus copies of the OS.

“One of ways we are going to do that is by enhancing the value of genuine Windows,” he said.

Continue Reading >>

Should I just stick to windows still and just download the security patches only?
Or should I switch to Linux. Still contemplating though.

It seems i would be switching to Linux sooner, if they get stricter.. Heheheh, yes i am a pirated software user, I am a student for goodness sake, how the hec do you want me to afford, 500 RM ++ for just an OS software. I would say this is a very stupid step, and yes Linux is winning the battle eventually. Well thank Goodness, i am comfortable with some linux distros. Hehehe. Linux supporters, I would be ready to join the club, anytime soon.

Crackers can you do something about the software? I mean really I would love to continue using windows OS with the ability to download and Update Addons, honestly. And I cannot buy the idea of paying such an amount of money for an OS software, with their kind of price tag. So i hope you guys come helpful. Microsot, i dont know what to say to you guys

The Computer-On-a-Stick (COS) is a USB Flash Drive featuring its own Onboard Operating System together with a full suite of Microsoft Office-compatible applications.
A Stick or otherwise known as a thumbdrive Drive featuring its own ultra fast Onboard Operating System with a full suite of Microsoft Office-compatible applications. Is that the future of computer systems?

The Computer-On-a-Stick also boasts the powerful Mozilla Firefox Web Browser, Evolution email, and Yahoo & MSN compatible Instant Messenger for superior Internet connectivity

Plug the Computer-On-a-Stick into your PC or Laptop and instantly transform your old environment into a new and powerful secure workstation – without a hard disk!

The combination of low cost and a powerful Onboard Operating System opens up a whole new paradigm of computing. Users get all the benefits of a thin client solution without changing their existing PC hardware or software.

This product been sold at Computer-on-disk, is quite impressive. I think i am going to get one for backup. It comes with a high but reasonable pricetag of $149 approx RM578 and with colours of blue silver and clear, besides the features which entails

OpenOffice Productivity Suite, including the following applications:

1. Word Processing
2. Spreadsheets
3. Vector Drawings
4. Slide Presentations

I expected him to blabber about the way he did it. But seems the guy is a real matured hacker, and did it to access his own account.

My Conversation WIth Google

So Prior to this post. I informed all that i had to hack into my account back to be able to make postings. Apparently, i didnt do the hacking process quite well because Google(the owners of blogspot) were notified through their server process about some tweaking that went on at so so date. I didnt think this was gonna happen but it did and now i have to face the consequences.

I’m not allowed to publish the mail because it says all that BS about confidentiality and shit but in summary, it mentions a part in the constitution about illegal entry some computer law which was signed by George W himself. Anywayz i cooperated with them and gave them all the necessary information on how i was able to penetrate through their highly secure software. THey were pretty impressed even though i didnt get in through my technical expertise but rather, a minor flaw in their server technology that i read about last semester. I was warned and i promised not to talk about it or reveal the letter if not i could be charged with section bullshit of the US constitution(like i’m not going to be in my counttry soon). To end everything they informed me that i could enter into some competition for programmers called “Summer of Codes” http://code.google.com/summerofcode.html

Continue Reading>>>

Hum i am quite impressed, that he didnt try to prove stubborn, and he was mature about the whole scenario. Google Inc is quiet friendly, if it were another organisation, i guess he would be arrested by now. But is there a possibility of future occurence?

Computer software code writing may not be everyone’s idea of a competitive sport, but thanks to a type of contest that is growing in popularity, things may soon change. How creative can you be, in a competition, with a prize money reaching up to $20,000?

Source: CNN Tech.

Computer software code writing may not be everyone’s idea of a competitive sport, but thanks to a type of contest that is growing in popularity, things may soon change.

U.S.-based company TopCoder runs coding competitions for up-and-coming software programmers.

The contests — called codejams — take place online as well as at venues, attracting up to 60,000 participants for big competitions, with prize money reaching up to $20,000.

During codejams, software engineers are presented with a problem, and they have to write a code that solves it. The engineer who comes up with the best solution in the quickest time, wins.

TopCoder chief operating officer Rob Hughes told CNN that the competitions were growing in popularity among software engineers, as well as among technology companies who use them to scout for future employees.

“In the software development industry, it’s fairly well-known that you can get up to 10 times the productivity gain from a very talented software developer versus an average software developer and our clients are looking for that kind of productivity gain.”

He said the United States was full of discovered talent, but the rest of the world remained untapped.

Online versions of code jams were a way of discovering people from other parts of the world, Hughes said.

Like most big players in the tech world, search engine Yahoo is always on the hunt for top software engineers to join the company.

But Yahoo chief executive Usama Fayyad told CNN that finding the right kind of future employees was no easy task.

He said the code jams gave the company the chance to look at parts of the world it would not normally have access to.

“These are the kinds of candidates who don’t necessarily respond to job ads. They’re not necessarily looking,” he said.

“You need to essentially actively seek them and TopCoder is a good mechanism for us to make connections with this crowd.”

Search engine Google, meanwhile, recently held a code jams in Bangalore, in India, and the company has offered the winner a job.

Well I need to start improving on my coding skills. yes, 20000 usd!!, and come to think of it, I wonder the kind of atmosphere that would be present, everybody concentrating deeply, the aura would be……… I mean especially if you guys are strugling to get a job, in googles case.

It’s a lot easier to gain — and keep — wealth by building it at a measured pace. Here are some simple ways of doing so.

American society is more cutthroat than ever, and it takes not only great skill and smarts to get ahead, but often a willingness to cut corners, says David Callahan, a PhD and author of The Cheating Culture. “How do you get rich slow when you need $600,000 to buy an entry-level house in Westchester?” asks Callahan.

The truth is it’s a lot easier to get rich — and stay rich — today by going it slow rather than latching onto a get-rich-quick scheme. Best-seller lists are clogged with books that explain in great detail how to Start Late, Finish Rich, or become The Millionaire Next Door. But much of the advice boils down to some pretty simple rules to live by. Here are five steps to slowly gaining the kind of financial security most people only dream of:

1. Live below your means

It’s easier said than done when 75% of the U.S. economy is based on consumer spending and when both cultural norms and easy credit terms encourage people to buy what they want, observes Peter Cohan, an author and investor in Marlborough, Mass. But living below your means is the way to avoid unnecessary debt. Christopher Zook, chairman of CAZ Investments in Houston, recommends borrowing money only to purchase a home or fund your education.

Rule 1 also means saving a portion of your earnings. Here’s an easy way to make that happen: Simply set up an automatic investing program with a mutual-fund company so that a cut of your paycheck — let’s say 10% — is socked away each month. The key is to make it happen automatically, advises author David Bach, whose list of bestsellers includes The Automatic Millionaire.

[For Futher Reading]

Microsoft unveiled its tab browser, in what i would call a step to overcome one of the main feautures that makes Firefox or Mozilla browser have an upper edge over it in terms of easy browsing experience. But it seems Microsoft is closing the gap slowly, from what i can tell. With this new toolbar, that means you can browse from one window using tabs, without opening multiple windows that normally crowds your status bar. The toolbar also comes with other feautures, that ensures that you dont miss the services provided by MSN.

Features:

To Download the toolbar visit the site at MSN TOOLBAR

A hacker after getting irritated of receiving spams, hacked into the mailing list database of the spam source, and erased the entire database of email addreses. Below is the news in that relation.

The Israeli National Institute of Standards have being practicing in a controversial activity. In the name of “helping to inform the public” the National Institute of Standards hired a company to send email messages thru the company’s distribution list (in other words spam list). An Israeli hacker tired of getting these spam messages have taken an action and hacked to the server where the email database is stored. After he got access to the database he deleted all the data from the spammer’s database, deleted all user names and passwords to the database and changed the database’s admin password.

Source: HAckintheBox

I think this is what hackers should be doing, hacking into spammers database and deleting it. Atleast that would reduce spams tremendously. Hackers you heared me.

The rumours that have spreaded the net in regards to sex mods present in Grant Theft Auto, happens to be true after all. San Andreas includes the Hot Coffee sex mod, with cheat codes proving it all.Here’s how you can see it, on the PlayStation 2, for yourself.

You first need to go and buy an Action Replay Max device. You then enter the following code:

Date & Girlfriend Codes…
D1U0-7U5R-BJ2ZC

Date Modifier…
39VZ-NARK-06RVU
8UQH-1851-EZQPC

Always Driving Date
8JKP-4XPM-Y2W6U
12UF-9DF5-0P0RG
7ZPF-J4VG-C20FY
vAUN4-Y662-7NFV0
7ZPF-J4VG-C20FY

Always Dancing Date
9YZR-17TF-MWZU4
5JC3-M4E8-VQ4CX
6BHH-ZW1G-YH2TU
AUN4-Y662-7NFV0
6BHH-ZW1G-YH2TU

Always Dinner Date
HRHT-J8VC-2P05M
5JC3-M4E8-VQ4CX
NG2H-VX0E-Z0G2T
12UF-9DF5-0P0RG
NG2H-VX0E-Z0G2T

Quick Fun Increase (Driving Dates) HC35-44B7-1B0QY
DVN8-B67P-H075B

Hot Coffee (After Successful Date)
WARNING: Uncensored Hot Coffee CODE UNLOCKS ADULT CONTENT
7UZJ-9YW8-0T45Z
8UQH-1851-EZQPC

Censored Hot Coffee
Note: Use this code if you wish to save game with Uncensored Hot Coffee disabled
1NQR-NVFE-NXV1Q
20MW-A62G-9MQ30

Uncensored Hot Coffee
Note: DO NOT SAVE WITH THIS CODE ACTIVE This cheat will save and MAY corrupt your save USE AT YOUR OWN RISK
You will be stuck in an invisible box after adult scene Press R1 R2 L1 L2 buttons at the same time to escape

JD3N-EV68-AGRW0
4PMG-6VNA-PBZQ7
BKR1-JF84-6Q23C
U7Q0-6H91-6JATX
5540-HY63-181MY
7FB5-3052-PWB8N
03AH-5PBC-9K2T7

The code comes with a warning that saving your game when the mod is active might corrupt existing saves. So now you know.

Source: Hackinthebox

But the question still is, why games? Has pornography find another way to spread itself? I think government regulators should do something about this, especially in regards to the under aged playing such games.

A Nigerian court has sentenced a woman to two and half years in jail after she pleaded guilty to fraud charges in the country’s biggest e-mail scam case.

Amaka Anajemba, one of three suspects in a $242 million fraud involving a Brazilian bank, must return $48.5 million to the bank, hand over $5 million to the government and pay a fine of $15,000 (2 million naira), the country’s antifraud agency said Saturday.

Scams have become so successful in Nigeria that antisleaze campaigners say swindling is one of the country’s main foreign exchange earners after oil, natural gas and cocoa.

Anajemba’s sentencing by a Lagos High Court on Friday is the first major conviction since the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was established in 2003 to crack down on Nigeria’s thriving networks of e-mail fraudsters. [ For Futher Reading]

Source: Zdnet

Well as i said, in my previous post in relation to internet fraud, Nigerians are generally not that sleek as they are said to be. They are just good in the “mail department”, sending u spams and the unfortunate greedy, gullible ones falling from it. The question i always ask is “WHY YOU?“. Why not me? Why not her or him? Well it seems the Nigerian government is taking it very seriously. But the question still remains, Is Fraud from Nigeria almost history?